Phil Mendelson Poised To Get D.C. Council's Interim Chairmanship, Looking At Special Election

06/07/2012 04:46 pm ET
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Updated
Jun 08, 2012

WASHINGTON -- Phil Mendelson (D) appears to have wrangled enough support from his colleagues on the District of Columbia Council to clinch the legislative body's interim chairmanship when members choose their new leader on June 13.

Neither [David] Catania nor [Vincent] Orange is overwhelmingly popular with colleagues; Brown has occasionally indicated that he'd like to be mayor one day, and the District's pols are unlikely to want to give him a boost by putting him in the city's second highest-ranking office until November. (Not to mention that the chairman would become mayor if Mayor Vince Gray were to wind up leaving office early for any reason.)

Mendelson, a former council staffer for then-Chairman David Clarke (D) and advisory neighborhood commissioner representing McLean Gardens, was first elected to the council in 1998. He's also the immediate past president of the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations.

Although Mendelson, who chairs the council's Judiciary Committee, has plenty of supporters, he's squabbled regularly with Kris Baumann, the head of the Fraternal Order of Police.